Thursday, April 6, 2006

Cheese Blintzes, Camaraderie and NYTimes Article

The funny thing about the Sunday New York Times is that when it comes to food articles, it's feast or famine (pun, definitely intended). A couple of Sundays ago, I saw an article about a new kind of food franchise springing up all over the US where people go to prepare two weeks worth of their own meals. It's geared towards busy people who are tired of ordering pizza, etc., don't have the time or energy when they get home to do much more than that, but feel guilty about not cooking.

An alternative was born...there are some in Seattle (Dream Dinners) and lots of other places around the country - 700 outlets according to the Times. Typically people start by going with a few of their friends and in a couple of hours they have their menus for the next two weeks ready to take home, pop in the freezer ready to defrost whenever - a healthier, cheaper way to go and people still feel like they did their own cooking...no guilt involved.

The camaraderie of going with friends, reminded me of when I lived in Ottawa and belonged to a Hadassah chapter that every year made cheese blintzes to be sold at the annual bazaar. Each of us was responsible for making 12 dozen of them. That's 144 in case your math skills are as poor as mine!!! So a group of us would get together at one person's home (usually the one with the biggest kitchen AND someone else to clean up). We'd spend the afternoon in assembly line fashion, sharing gossip, laughing at something (or someone) and in general having a great time. It never seemed like work and the time always flew by.

Now, one of the few recipes I still have to do first stage testing on before sending it out to my enthusiastic recipe testers is for those cheese blintzes - definitely NOT part of South Beach DietPhase One! But the article moved me, and I was strong. My honey and I each had one bite - I swear!- to make sure they tasted okay and so I could get a photo of the finished product. The rest are in the freezer waiting.

Since we can't eat them, I decided you can't eat them either - at least, not yet!